Guatemalan President Alejandro Giammattei is less than a month into his term and yet there are already disturbing signs that his administration will side with global mining corporations against indigenous communities fighting to protect their land and water.

Cabrera was General Director for the Pan American Silver company’s Guatemalan subsidiary, Minera San Rafael, until May 2019. He was also in charge when the mine was violently imposed on local communities in 2013-2014, and, according to the Guatemalan government’s public registry of contracts and acquisitions, still serves as its legal representative today.

The stories you care about, right at your fingertips

Get Truthout’s daily edition delivered to your inbox.

Email

Mining operations at Escobal have been suspended since 2017, due in large part to widespread community opposition and a Supreme Court order that suspended the mine’s license over failure to consult with affected Xinka Indigenous people. Guatemala’s highest court upheld that suspension in September 2018 and ordered the Guatemalan government to consult with the Xinka before operations could resume.

“Now, Pan American Silver has an operator on the inside to protect its interests,” said Quelvin Jiménez, lawyer for the Xinka Parliament who is Xinka himself. “The government is already attempting to exclude Xinka representatives and the Xinka Parliament from the consultation process. This appointment tells us that we should expect the government to continue to violate our rights.”

While General Director of Escobal, Cabrera worked closely with the government to obtain the exploitation license for the mine in 2013. This took place at a time when local communities and municipalities were holding their own referenda in which tens of thousands voted against any mining on their territory, and when over 200 individual complaints were filed against the approval of the exploitation license over potential environmental and health harms.

Cabrera’s appointment comes at an already tense moment. The government-led consultation with affected Xinka people has been stalled since November 2018, when Xinka Indigenous authorities first denounced violations of due process and discrimination. The Xinka Parliament has filed more than a dozen complaints about these violations on multiple occasions since, and has yet to receive an adequate response from authorities. Guatemala’s Human Rights Ombudsman, mandated by the Constitutional Court to act as a watchdog for the consultation, recently backed up their complaints.

President Giammattei has already declared martial law in two municipalities opposed to resource extraction. He also promised to fast-track a highly controversial law to regulate the consultation process. While sure to be contested, many fear this type of regulation would undermine long-term struggles for self-determination through a meaningless process of paper-pushing.

To support efforts in Guatemala to halt the government’s attempts to violate Xinka rights by restarting the destructive Escobal mine, international allies have launched apetitiondrive.

Pan American Silver, which is based in Canada, is clearly feeling some pressure. In response to aprevious version of this blogpublished by Earthworks, a company official asserted that Juan José Cabrera Alonso no longer works for their subsidiary, Minera San Rafael.

The fact that Cabrera stepped down from his role as General Director in May 2019 is not in dispute. However, according to Guatemala’s public registry, Cabrera continues to serve as the company’s legal representative, effective through May 2, 2020. If Pan American Silver no longer has official ties to Cabrera, this should be reflected in the public registry. This is an example of the lack of transparency and access to information mine-impacted communities in Guatemala face every day.

Even if Cabrera no longer has official ties to the company, this doesn’t change his long-term relationship between the company’s wholly owned subsidiary.

Pan American Silver has a friendly ear at the highest level of Guatemalan government. Xinka communities do not.

When it comes to waging war, stripping basic rights, election fraud, or a global health crisis, you deserve the truth.

Support the journalists that have been fighting back against dangerous disinformation since day one:

Give what you can to keep us publishing.

Get Daily Updates

Subscribe to Truthout’s daily newsletter and never miss a story. We’ll send you the top news, analysis and commentary from Truthout’s reporters and leading progressive thinkers, as well as the best reprints from other independent news sources.